TARKINGTON PRAIRIE, TEXAS. Tarkington Prairie was founded by Burton B. Tarkington in 1822 near the old Nacogdoches-Lynchburg trail in northern Liberty County. The surrounding land was well suited for crop and cattle raising, and the group of settlers soon grew to become a thriving rural community. By the 1860s there was a store-trading center, a blacksmith shop, a steam mill and gin, a combination Baptist church-Masonic lodge, and a post office. Immediately after the Civil War many veterans settled in the community, and trail drivers and shippers of goods made Tarkington Prairie a stop along this major route to the coast. The post office was abandoned because of the proximity of the larger post office at Cleveland. In 1976 the old trading center still stood, but the original cattle trail was covered by pavement.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cleveland Advocate, November 26, 1936.
